fix(config): align in-process write sourceConfig with file-watcher (#73267)

Fix config writes so in-process reload notifications use the canonical post-write source snapshot, matching the file watcher path.

Adds regression coverage for the runtime source snapshot and changelog credit.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 - Channels/Telegram: keep Bot API network fallbacks sticky after failed attempts and retry timed-out startup control calls once on the fallback route, so `deleteWebhook` IPv6 stalls no longer trigger slow multi-account retry storms. Fixes #73255. Thanks @ttomiczek and @sktbrd.
 - Gateway/models: merge explicit `models.providers.*.models` rows into the Gateway model catalog with normalized provider/model dedupe, and use normalized image-capability lookup so custom vision models keep native image attachments even when Pi discovery omits them or model ID casing differs. Fixes #64213 and #65165. Thanks @billonese and @202233a.
+- Gateway/reload: publish canonical post-write source config to in-process reloaders so simple config saves no longer create phantom plugin diffs or trigger unnecessary Gateway restarts. (#73267) Thanks @szsip239.
 - Export/session: keep inline export HTML scripts and vendor libraries injected after template formatting so generated session exports open with the app code, markdown renderer, and syntax highlighter present. Fixes #41862 and #49957; carries forward #41861 and #68947. Thanks @briannewman, @martenzi, and @armanddp.
 - Agents/ACPX: stage the patched Claude ACP adapter as an ACPX runtime dependency and route known Codex/Claude ACP commands through local wrappers, so Gateway runtime no longer depends on live `npx` adapter resolution. Fixes #73202. Thanks @joerod26.
 - Memory/compaction: let pre-compaction memory flush use an exact `agents.defaults.compaction.memoryFlush.model` override such as `ollama/qwen3:8b` without inheriting the active session fallback chain, so local housekeeping can avoid paid conversation models. Fixes #53772. Thanks @limen96.

src/config/io.ts

@@ -2442,6 +2442,28 @@ export async function writeConfigFile(
   ) {
     return;
   }
+  // Re-read the freshly persisted file so the sourceConfig we publish matches
+  // exactly what readConfigFileSnapshot() will produce when the file-watcher
+  // path next picks up an external edit. Without this, the in-process write
+  // path emits `nextCfg` (the pre-write source merge) while the file-watcher
+  // path emits a sourceConfig that has additionally been shaped by include/
+  // env resolution, legacy migration, and the shipped-plugin-install strip.
+  // The two diverge on schema-derived defaults that the read pipeline adds
+  // but `nextCfg` never sees, so the gateway reload pump's
+  // currentCompareConfig drifts permanently from on-disk state and diffs out
+  // phantom paths under plugins.entries.* on every save — incorrectly
+  // triggering a `plugins`-scoped restart of the gateway for changes that
+  // never touched any plugin entry.
+  let canonicalSourceConfig: OpenClawConfig = nextCfg;
+  try {
+    const freshSnapshot = await io.readConfigFileSnapshot();
+    if (freshSnapshot.exists && freshSnapshot.valid) {
+      canonicalSourceConfig = freshSnapshot.sourceConfig;
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Best-effort; fall back to nextCfg so a transient read failure does not
+    // block the write notification.
+  }
   const notifyCommittedWrite = () => {
     const currentRuntimeConfig = getRuntimeConfigSnapshotState();
     if (!currentRuntimeConfig) {
@@ -2450,7 +2472,7 @@ export async function writeConfigFile(
     notifyRuntimeConfigWriteListeners(
       createRuntimeConfigWriteNotification({
         configPath: io.configPath,
-        sourceConfig: nextCfg,
+        sourceConfig: canonicalSourceConfig,
         runtimeConfig: currentRuntimeConfig,
         persistedHash: writeResult.persistedHash,
         afterWrite: options.afterWrite,
@@ -2460,7 +2482,7 @@ export async function writeConfigFile(
   // Keep the last-known-good runtime snapshot active until the specialized refresh path
   // succeeds, so concurrent readers do not observe unresolved SecretRefs mid-refresh.
   await finalizeRuntimeSnapshotWrite({
-    nextSourceConfig: nextCfg,
+    nextSourceConfig: canonicalSourceConfig,
     hadRuntimeSnapshot,
     hadBothSnapshots,
     loadFreshConfig: () => io.loadConfig(),

src/config/io.write-config.test.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import type { PluginManifestRegistry } from "../plugins/manifest-registry.js";
 import { createSuiteTempRootTracker } from "../test-helpers/temp-dir.js";
 import {
   createConfigIO,
+  getRuntimeConfigSourceSnapshot,
   registerConfigWriteListener,
   resetConfigRuntimeState,
   setRuntimeConfigSnapshot,
@@ -887,4 +888,92 @@ describe("config io write", () => {
       }
     });
   });
+
+  it("notifies in-process reloaders with canonical post-write source config", async () => {
+    mockLoadPluginManifestRegistry.mockReturnValue({
+      diagnostics: [],
+      plugins: [
+        {
+          id: "demo",
+          origin: "bundled",
+          channels: [],
+          providers: [],
+          cliBackends: [],
+          skills: [],
+          hooks: [],
+          rootDir: "/tmp/openclaw-test-demo",
+          source: "/tmp/openclaw-test-demo/index.ts",
+          manifestPath: "/tmp/openclaw-test-demo/openclaw.plugin.json",
+          configSchema: {
+            type: "object",
+            properties: {
+              mode: { type: "string", default: "auto" },
+            },
+            additionalProperties: true,
+          },
+        },
+      ],
+    } satisfies PluginManifestRegistry);
+
+    await withSuiteHome(async (home) => {
+      const configPath = path.join(home, ".openclaw", "openclaw.json");
+      const previousConfigPath = process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH;
+      process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH = configPath;
+      await fs.mkdir(path.dirname(configPath), { recursive: true });
+      const sourceConfig = {
+        gateway: { mode: "local" },
+        agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "openai/gpt-5.4" } } },
+        plugins: { entries: { demo: { enabled: true, config: {} } } },
+      } satisfies ConfigFileSnapshot["sourceConfig"];
+      await fs.writeFile(configPath, `${JSON.stringify(sourceConfig, null, 2)}\n`, "utf-8");
+      const runtimeConfig = {
+        ...structuredClone(sourceConfig),
+        plugins: {
+          entries: {
+            demo: { enabled: true, config: { mode: "auto" } },
+          },
+        },
+      } satisfies ConfigFileSnapshot["config"];
+      const observedSources: unknown[] = [];
+      const unsubscribe = registerConfigWriteListener((event) => {
+        observedSources.push(event.sourceConfig);
+      });
+
+      try {
+        setRuntimeConfigSnapshot(runtimeConfig, sourceConfig);
+
+        await writeConfigFile({
+          ...runtimeConfig,
+          agents: {
+            defaults: {
+              model: { primary: "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6" },
+            },
+          },
+        });
+
+        const postWriteSnapshot = await createConfigIO({
+          env: { OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH: configPath, VITEST: "true" } as NodeJS.ProcessEnv,
+          homedir: () => home,
+          logger: silentLogger,
+        }).readConfigFileSnapshot();
+
+        expect(postWriteSnapshot.valid).toBe(true);
+        expect(observedSources).toEqual([postWriteSnapshot.sourceConfig]);
+        expect(getRuntimeConfigSourceSnapshot()).toEqual(postWriteSnapshot.sourceConfig);
+        expect(postWriteSnapshot.sourceConfig.meta?.lastTouchedAt).toEqual(expect.any(String));
+        expect(postWriteSnapshot.sourceConfig.plugins?.entries?.demo?.config).toEqual({});
+      } finally {
+        unsubscribe();
+        mockLoadPluginManifestRegistry.mockReturnValue({
+          diagnostics: [],
+          plugins: [],
+        } satisfies PluginManifestRegistry);
+        if (previousConfigPath === undefined) {
+          delete process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH;
+        } else {
+          process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH = previousConfigPath;
+        }
+      }
+    });
+  });
 });